All posts tagged: george megalogenis

Gillard’s homework for us : Anne Summers

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One of the sessions that sparked the most passion at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival 2013 was by iconic author and feminist Anne Summers and journalist, political commentator and author George Megalogenis. “We should all thank Julia Gillard for the speech she gave on June 26,” said  Summers, to an audience that overflowed from the marquee on an unusually warm August 1 afternoon. It is belated yet perhaps timely to post a few days ahead of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s conversation with Anne Summers in Sydney on September 30 and Melbourne on October 1. (Both events sold out rapidly and the conversation will be live on ABC 24 on Monday, 6.30 p.m.) Called The Misogyny Factor, the same title as Anne Summers’ book, the BBWF session looked at many topics other than the former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and these are touched on in an earlier post. The country handled the experience of having a first female prime minister very badly, said Summers. “But why? It wasn’t just that Gillard was a woman, single, …

The digital revolution: Is it destroying good journalism?

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There was a fervent yet entertaining discussion about the plight of journalism in the Feros tent on the first afternoon of the Writers Festival. Three seasoned journalist gave insights into the dilemma that traditional journalism is facing due to the burgeoning digital revolution. According to the panellists, the main problem is that newspaper sales are dwindling, as younger generations are seeking all their news online, where they also expect it to be free. Veteran journalist and author of Come The Revolution: A Memoir, Alex Mitchell believes that traditional journalism practices are inevitably suffering, and standards are dropping. “The industry is going through a real crisis,” Mitchell said. “We haven’t successfully made the transition to new technology.” Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Peter FitzSimons agrees. And he believes that the face of the media is changing radically. “We are in a transition phase,” FitzSimons said. According to FitzSimons, the situation is ironic: as news is becoming increasingly sought after, yet its revenues are dwindling. “There’s more eyeballs on Fairfax articles than ever before,” he said “There’s just …

We placed rather too much faith in government – Anne Summers

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In any other year an audience at Byron Bay would have quite satisfied been with a discussion about inequalities in Australian society between men and women – inequalities that Anne Summers covers in forensic detail in The Misogynist Factor; such as the skewing of Australia’s highest honours towards men in business and finance, to the point there is a business to train you to get a Companion of the Order of the Australia. Community service is recognised at the lower tiers of the awards structure and this where greater numbers of women are awarded. “How do we define what’s of service to this country? Why is community service deemed to be of lesser value?” Summers and George Megalogenis looked at the past forty years. In any other year a Byron audience would have been happy to dwell upon the advances made for women in the eras of Gough Whitlam and other Labor leaders, and how these regressed under John Howard government. “I recall running the Office Of Status for three years in the early eighties,” …